SebastianP

The Macross Elysion may be the only Mecha Colle kit I'm getting of the entire lot, unless they *really* throw us a bone and give us a Battle Frontier and/or Battle Galaxy. The others I can do entirely without, but with the ships I'm pretty sure that Mecha Colle is all we're ever going to get that'll be worth the asking price....

Let's see... Not listed above (I assume you have some of these despite that): Hasegawa 1/72: VF-0 with Ghost (limited edition, long OOP, expensive as hell if you can find it for sale) VF-0 Battroid with Reactive Armor (same as above) VF-1 Super and Strike versions VF-1 Battroid, with Super, Strike and Armored versions VF-11B/C Super Thunderbolt VF-22 Sturmvogel II Bandai 1/72: YF-25 Prophecy VF-27 Lucifer Garage kits 1/72: VF-4 Lightning III (exists in both vinyl and resin, long OOP in both cases) VF-9 Cutlass (*possible* garage kit displayed at Wonderfest, I've only found two pictures of it so I don't know if it was actually for sale at the time) YF-27 prototype: I believe I saw a conversion kit to turn the Bandai VF-27 into the "fake prototype" from Macross: The Ride (it was a decoy sent to the open competition to mask how powerful the actual VF-27 was).

Of course it is, but HLJ doesn't actually post straight machine translations and has a human checking them over, which is why the language sounds natural. Whoever they had doing it for this kit though is apparently not the greatest Macross fan, or he completely missed looking at the original text. Oh well, crap happens. And I agree with Thom - we *need* a New Macross carrier in the same scale. The only New Macross model I've seen in any scale was a limited run resin kit that was more of a size with gaming miniatures, and there's an opportunity to make five distinct versions with only minor retooling. And at least two or three of them would sell big.

Dat commentary... "Destroyed Monster". Or as the HLJ page puts it, "Destroyed version of the Monster." Anyway, I've pre-ordered mine as well. I should get the DYRL version too at some point, it looks awesome, and having them side by side would be really neat. The Hasegawa kits are just that: Model kits. They do not transform, they're for static display only. I know some people have managed to make transformable VFs from the Hasegawa kits, but that basically requires at least two kits (one battroid and one fighter kit) and a ton of scratchbuilding. Also, unlike some of the VF kits where you could use for example the head (I think) from a battroid kit to make a different fighter version, I'm not sure the parts breakdown of the cruiser mode kits support swapping parts with an eventual Storm Attacker kit other than maybe the arms, and possibly not even them.

To be fully accurate, there are three types of polystyrene cement to watch for, and they each have things they're better at than the others. The thick type in the squeeze tubes is almost obsolete by now, but it has its uses for things like welding very strong point connections. Use a toothpick to apply it, *never* the tube itself. The thin type in the glass bottles with the brush applicator is really runny, and evaporates very fast, as it's almost pure solvent. You mainly use this by brushing along the seam between two pieces you've either "spot welded" with thicker cement, or that you're squeezing together with your fingers or clamps. The cement is so thin, no matter how hard you squeeze some will get into the seam and weld it tight. There are different strengths to this stuff, there's a brand called "Tenax" IIRC which is noted for being some of the strongest of the lot. The last type is the medium type that comes in a needle applicator bottle. It is *not* the same as the thin cement, it is nowhere near as runny nor does it evaporate as fast; but it is runny enough to have constant flow out of the bottle so you only have to run the tip of the needle along the edge and the cement will come out of the bottle. I've seen this kind of cement from Revell/Matchbox, Testors, and some others, and unless I run into something really stubborn, it is basically the only thing I ever use, as it is hard to apply too much cement. Make sure that if you get this kind, get a bottle with a *metal* needle, as the cement sometimes dries in the needle itself, and to clear the stoppage, you need to heat the needle with a lighter until the cement in there burns up. Testors used to have bottles with *plastic* applicators, and for obvious reasons clearing a stoppage using the regular method didn't work. I ended up having to cut the whole tube off and use it as a refill for my previous bottle, which had a metal applicator. (That series of events is also why I know that the cement in the brush bottles is much runnier - I tried refilling the needle bottle with brush cement, and it came pouring out like water through drain pipe when I tilted the bottle.)

There are quite a few differences in armament that I can see from these pics, and this is only one angle. Right now, I'm spotting the following changes from the TV to the Movie version: * Small triple turret on the rotating boom section moved to the non-rotating front part * Heavy guided converging beam turrets on the base of the cannon booms moved to shoulder, and replaced with large hatch. * Smaller turrets behind the heavy ones on the cannon booms, and on top of the engine sections and on the shoulders all removed (six total) Anyone care to post similar pics from a ventral angle?

We'll probably see the rest of the VFs eventually, as long as people keep buying the existing ones enough to keep their manufacture profitable. The easiest ones to make that we haven't gotten at this point would be Messiah variants, the crank-winged VF-19s (wasn't there already an M:TR release with different wings, or am I dreaming?), the Messiah variants, and after they've made a Super Messiah, that souped up YF-19 that Isamu uses in Wings of Goodbye with the Messiah super parts. The VF-27 will probably be the next basic VF type though, and hopefully we'll get that nifty YF-27 from Macross The Ride at some point. That thing was almost cooler than the actual Lucifer.

It's not like the Japanese don't already have a history of building carriers with mirrored layouts - the Akagi and Hiryu had their islands on the port side, rather than the normal starboard. It turned out not to be the best idea ever (single propeller aircraft usually want to pull left due to torque, and having the island on the right means the aircraft won't easily fly into it. Having it on the other side means you have to actively avoid crashing into it...), but with spacecraft and torque-neutral fighters (twin engines), it's a different story. While the announcement of this kit is welcome, I'm really really hoping that we're going to get some more Macross ships out of Hasegawa at some point, BTW. The Macross itself has been done over and over, if not in injection molded plastic before - what I really want to see is some "modern" era ships, like the New Macross class carrier (with all its variations); the Uraga and Guantanamo escort carriers, Northampton frigates, and those cruisers from Frontier we never really got a name for (IIRC). Also, if they really do make a New Macross carrier, I'm pretty much certain that someone, somewhere, is going to end up posting photos of their scratchbuilt city section that mates with it.

All VF-25s are two-seaters. It's just that Luca never had a back seater. The Master File book lists a dedicated two-seater (with both crewmen in Ex-Gears), but it's not really canon. I'm holding off on ordering mine for a bit, there's plenty of time and I still have a VF-25G to build. I'd love for there to be a VF-25A release, all the tooling is there they'd just need a slightly different decal sheet. Also holding out for super and armored parts... though those will require at least entirely new leg sprues, and most likely more than that.

Depending on where you buy them, the Hasegawa kits are 1000 to 1200 yen cheaper than the corresponding Bandai kit. (At HLJ, the difference is 1040 yen - the Bandai kits are 3600 yen, the Hasegawas are 2560 yen). To build them right, you're going to need a bit more than 1000 yen worth of paints alone, though, especially if you're doing anything other than Alto's VF-25F, which is the simplest color option there is. (it's all over white with some metallic and black parts, nearly all of the other colors are on the decal sheet). Each of the kits has a substantial list of pros and cons. The Hasegawas a: are stuck in fighter mode permanently; b: require expensive paint and glue; c: are not play-friendly *at all*; and d: only come in a very limited subset of the types available from Bandai, i.e. only plain F/G/S. There are as yet no super, armored or tornado packs for the Hasegawa kits, and the Bandai items won't fit. (I've checked this.) On the plus side, since the kits are stuck in fighter mode only they won't sag, and Hasegawa has seen fit to include underwing ordnance and the hidden back seat, complete with a little Ranka in the VF-25G kit. And Super parts are probably only a matter of time, given that pretty much all the other VFs have gotten a super parts release if such parts existed in the anime. (Only the VF-19 doesn't have any, but I don't think the super parts for that were shown on screen anyway). Also, even if the decals for the Hasegawa kits turn out to be as thick and fragile as the Bandai ones, they're *still* superior, for the three reasons of being solidly colored, much more detailed, and unlikely to be scraped off during transformation... The Bandai kits, being transformable, sag horribly in fighter mode (at least the plain and super versions do; the Tornado and Armored not so much); have decals that start flaking off if you look at them sharply; make a bunch of concessions to snap-fit assembly and transformation that result in terribly crude or off-scale parts (such as the landing gear, the pilot figure and windscreen, not to mention the very ugly joints at the wing root) or even non-existant parts (no back seat, no wing ordnance); are a royal pain in the butt to squeeze into proper fighter shape; and are fragile if you do play with them any(broken shoulder on my Super VF-25S) in a way that can't easily be fixed (styrene cement doesn't work on ABS plastic, and superglue is not recommended.) Also, the series appears to have been discontinued - they still make the existing kits, but nothing new has been added for a couple of years now. On the other hand, all versions of the VF-25 including the prototype, the RVF and the Tornado and Armored packs are available; they *are* transformable and can be displayed in Gerwalk or Battroid mode if that's what you want to do; they don't *require* glue or paint (unless you do something stupid, like break a part); and most of them come with stickers that are at least less fragile than the decals. All in all, if you want a plain VF-25 that will hold together perfectly in fighter mode above all else, and are prepared to spend the time needed to paint and decal it properly, get the Hasegawa kit. It looks *awesome* in fighter mode. If you want *anything* other than a plain VF-25, want to display it in something other than fighter mode, or don't have the patience to paint it, get the Bandai kit, because the Hasegawa version won't give you any of the above...yet. Maybe in the future. (here's hoping we actually get a VF-29 from Hasegawa at some point, given that Bandai has abandoned the 1/72 builders...)

As I see it (I own the kit but it's still in my HLJ private warehouse so I haven't actually eyeballed it) Hasegawa made two mistakes with this kit - 1. They molded it in blue, making painting it a pain in the ass, and 2. They didn't (as far as I can tell) stick a regular gun pod in there, so you can't build it into an A without swiping the gun from an A/S kit. If they'd done those things, I guarantee kit number two would already be waiting as well. Given the amount of work needed to make an A (i.e. all the parts exist, we just need them boxed together) we'll likely see one released this year anyway, even if it's a limited edition. Hopefully we'll see some Super Parts soon as well. I really really really want a better option than the Bandai Super parts...

The above is slightly incorrect - the A/C models share a head, as do the B/D models; the twin gun head is unique to the S. I don't know if that sprue is included with the VF-0S kit, or if you'll have to get it from someone who built their "A/S w/Ghost" as an S. Either way, good luck!

I've received mine, but I've got my hands full at the moment. I really should finish some of my in-progress stuff up before I start on a new kit...

That's not a VF, that's an F-203 Dragon II, the fighter Roy was flying during the Unification War. It's in Episode 33 of the original series, in a flashback to how Claudia met Roy. (I don't remember seeing that scene in the Robotech version of that episode, so it might have been cut.) What I want to know is if that was a scratchbuild, or if not - where the kit came from. (Not that I could afford a resin kit that size anyway...)

Someone needs to tell Hasegawa they need to make a VF-11 Battroid in 1/72 - and then an Armored version.

Google delivers: http://www.modelivery.com/product.detail_995098_en_5293875

I have been using Vallejo and Humbrol Acrylics for airbrushing - while the local hobby shop nominally stocks Tamiya, the previous shipment of paints from Japan to Sweden sank en route, so many of the colors needed for the stuff I build ran out. And no one in the region stocks Gunze anymore - which is a crying shame, because they actually *have* the colors I need for modern jets. And ordering paints privately is either expensive, slooooow, or impossible, due to the regulations on flammable liquids.

That thing looks awesome. I've been brush painting Humbrol for more than twenty years, and it's really not that hard - stir the paint in the tin with a toothpick until you're not getting gobs of pigment on it, then use the toothpick to dribble paint into a disposable mug (you only get a few drops at a time, so it will take several goes to get a decent amount.) Then add a couple of drops (be careful, you really don't need much) of white spirits to the cup, and use your brush to mix the paint. It should be just thick enough to not go transparent when you try brushing the inside of the cup. Depending on the base color of the model, and the color you're painting it, you're going to need between two and four thin coats - the wings and most of the fuselage on my VF-19 have received three coats and they're completely solid, no blotches at all. With just one coat, the white comes through from underneath, making it look awful. Properly thinned humbrol is really very forgiving to work with - you can brush the same area multiple times without getting buildup as long as the paint is still wet, so you can really brush off dust particles and stray hairs; it sticks well to the plastic and has near zero surface tension, so it won't bead; and if it builds up in the corners where it shouldn't, you just touch your brush to where it's pooling and the brush sucks it right up. And you have several minutes before it dries to the point where it stops self-levelling and you start getting brushstrokes. The only bad part is that their white paints turn yellow way too quickly, which I think is due to the oil. Despite being infinitely more frustrating to work with, I've started using acrylics for landing gear, gear bays and intake interiors because of that. (I've even gotten a decent finish on a model car once using just thinned enamel and a wide brush.)

For once, some actual pictures of actual models that I'm actually building... A while ago, a friend of mine bought me a VF-19A "Lightnings" w/High-maneuver Missiles, which I set aside for a couple of months to concentrate on the Gundams and VF-25 kits I'd bought for myself. A couple of weeks ago I finally got around to building it, and got to this point: When I discovered this: Yup, that's a short-shot. I was all kinds of miffed at this, since it's a rather prominent piece and I am *not* up to fixing it with scrap plastic. The next day I took a break and went to the local model show, where I found another VF-19 kit (actually an YF-19 "Demonstrator" kit) that I got for 30% off of the already lowered show price. Since the kit scheme isn't my cup of tea, I'm painting it up in the "Lightnings" scheme (black and yellow over gray) instead: Here's where I am right now. In case it's not obvious from the picture, I'm brush-painting the second kit (the first one I'm using for airbrush practice - it's been stripped a couple of times already, and I'm not really getting what I'm doing wrong - the paint just clogs up way fast no matter how thin I mix it), and I haven't gotten around to the black parts yet. The exhaust bits are painted with Humbrol's metalcote gunmetal, which is wonderful when it works and terrible when it doesn't. To anyone thinking of trying it - despite being in the same kind of tins as Humbrol's enamels, you should *not* thin this with white spirits/naphta. Use alcohol. White spirits is good for stripping it off, though. (lesson learned the expensive way - the gunmetal was drying in its tin, so I poured white spirits in to thin it back to usable a year or so ago. Big mistake - the pigments don't dissolve properly now..) I have way too much crap going on right now - there's a 1/1300 Bentenmaru (from the Mouretsu Pirates anime) awaiting painting or decaling (not sure whether to paint it actually - it's molded in color, and the colors are strange mixes like a very dark burgundy and a dark pink for most of the fuselage and bits), a 1/25 Corvette ZR1 that I finally managed to get an even coat of paint onto, an Airbus A400M that I'm still working on the interior for, and three different AW101 Merlins at mostly that stage as well. Plus I have a Super VF-11B and an F-14B Tomcat that are singing "build me, build me"...

I have finally gotten an airbrush! Need to get some cleaning supplies for it this weekend and some practice time, but everything is set for actually making some decent models now.

Well, aside from the original VF-1 ordnance pack, there's the missile pods for the VF-0 (no longer available IIRC, was in the A/S + Ghost and the C), the High Maneuverability Missiles (VF-19A "Lightnings" kit), and now these for the VF-25. I'm hopeful that there will be RMS-7s in the Super or Armored versions when they're released, as well...

The official tech specs (I think) are on the Japanese wiki page for the YF-30 here: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/YF-30_%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AD%E3%83%8E%E3%82%B9 Open the page in Google Chrome to have it auto-translated, it works well enough for the stats box, at least.

Nice! Where did you get that five-inch X-acto blade in the last pic?

My biggest beef with the landing gear is that the main wheels look tiny. But I think Hasegawa's mainwheels are either larger than Bandai's, or their nosewheels are smaller - and while the main struts are't much thinner, all the other details are. I foresee Hasegawa receiving a tidy sum from me via HLJ this winter, at any rate. I need two of these, a Super VF-11B, and if they're still available then, a Thunderseeker...

EXO: I have a color laser printer, so I could theoretically print my own stuff, but I suck terribly at 2D graphics and I don't think anyone in my entire country actually stocks blank decal paper. (My *kit assembly skills* themselves are only marginally up to OOB Gunpla building, but I'm at least trying to improve... ) On the other hand, if someone *does* have source files for finished decals and is willing to share, I'll order some decal-making supplies from Hannants next month. One of the print shops in this town is bound to have an ALPS printer... Vifam7: Thanks for the offer, and I'll keep it in mind. Going to see if there's any way I can avoid Bandai's decals first though. I'm going to order a few things from Samueldecal anyway (I have, aside from the three Messiahs, three Master Grade Gundams that are waiting for paint and decals - a 00 Raiser, a 00 Seven Swords/G, and an Exia - plus a dozen or so HG kits that will be used for painting practice...)